Chetan Bhagat is one of the prominent writer in this "Bollywood" dominated subcontinent and his novels are best sellers of all the time (Not all of his books are best sellers as the nonfiction "What Young India wants" was hardly noticed). The novelist does it again: the love, relationship, tragedy, misunderstood formula sales like a hot cake with the recent novel "Half Girlfriend".
Here are the things (more than 10) that came to me after reading the novel. "
Spoiler Warning: Please be warned that reading this may reveal some important plot.
Spoiler Warning: Please be warned that reading this may reveal some important plot.
1. The Engineer cum writer (who left his banking career for the full time writing) must have had some serious love relationships in his time, to pen the nitty-gritty of the affair. Either he knows the crux, or he must have done serious drill with the love sides.
2. The negative reaction of the people for the same old formula, no better characterization, no proper reasoning, questions his ability to bring different. But I don't think it will abate the sales of the book. I even felt enthralled to read it and get finished in two sittings.
3. Another bolly flick will definitely be coming with the novel, which I won't be watching as I don't want to kill my imagination with the sharply twisted script and the long uninvited songs.
4. When you think of Bihari, two persons come to my mind, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar. Lalu Prasad Yadav is the popular Bihari politician whose English caricature made big funny jokes and makes an impression of the English in Bihar. Madhav Jha, the protagonists is self aware of his poor English as being a Bihari and feels too much afraid to do a speech in English. During learning English, his thought makes a big point: "Not knowing English or speaking funny English is not a crime". He even thinks that if the India had ruled the world, then these Goras would have needed to learn Hindi and it would be exactly strenuous to them. But nowadays even Chinese are speaking English and they feel it necessary to interact and do business globally. So learning/speaking good English is always better for a person.
5. Nitish Kumar was ruling Bihar as CM in the same era when the novel takes place but it does not mention the various developmental activities there. Is he politically biased, or is reluctant not to get some image for latter entry into politics.
6. Bihari Loktantra/Ganatantra is what our oppositions party mention of the political achievement in our country Nepal. Did Bihari mean the worse according to them... for which I did not get such feeling from the novel. Though at times, Madhav mentions Bihar state to be backward as compared to other states.
7. With the book, I came to know that Bihar did not have 3G in 2009, as Madhav and Riya go to cyber cafe for browsing internet whereas he was happy to have 3G for the repeated Navigation in New York city.
8. Bihar, Delhi, New York are the three cities where the novel happens. He misses the comparison between the three cities and a different analogy. Is it there or am i dumb to not get it, which could have been better. Blistering cold of New York is mentioned whereas there is no word in Bihar and Delhi (as Delhi to me is heavily hot, and so is Bihar I suppose).
9. The "I" character changes time and again in the novel between author and the protagonist, that made me confused sometime but realized later.
10. Madhav made a mistake for making his Bihar proud when he said "Deti he to de, varna kat le" to Riya. The sentence made the novel happen otherwise that half breakup would not have occurred and there is no reason to extend the story.
11. Guys are pushy to get what they like/love, Girls don't like pushy and don't care unless it helps to fulfill her dreams. Selfie-sh on both sides.
12. The movie (that has the author as a character) if made, will definitely put the author in the list of actors, that's why he has already started acting with the appearance at the next Comedy Nights with Kapil (CNWK) show. :D. Now I wonder if they can persuade the world's richest man Bill Gates to do cameo in the movie.
